The mist in the air


The mist never cleared, except hazes and pieces of smaller puzzles the mist never cleared.

Once the creatures ventured out, once the details remained , once had the world been clear, yet the mist never cleared.

The taxi pulled up at the corner of the road bleakly lit by a lamp. A lamp lit by the oil taken from whales. Although they had aspects to manage the lighting much much better, the whale oil fueled furled every opportunity of raking in some profit.

The person who stepped out was neither a human nor a creature. It was not clear as to who the person was, nor the creature!the mist never cleared! The blurred silhouette of the person just about managed to get out of the vehicle,, the traffic was on the wrong side on this side of the globe! A car, truck and a moped drove past across the board while the shadow was opening the door of the car.. each in varying levels of honking. The loudest was obviously the moped which was a convenient three feet away..

The shadow started to rub its ear and all but had a case of road rage, however looking at the moped and the thought of how easily it was to be on it dawned a new thought on the creature. It had work to do! Work that had been endowed with purpose. Glorious purpose.. wait ,  no that was Loki.. the creature had but one non existent purpose.. that of a delivery..


Delivery had been a family business! You wanted anything to deliver, as late as possible, sometimes generations even, they would do it.. sloths were considered faster than their delivery service.. infact it was not a claim it was the motto of their agency.. 

Simple and direct.. “late delivery...infact sloths are faster.. “

A simple, non descriptive board at the edge of the galaxy with a wrong address made sure any global, universal or galaxial being wanted to find them, they were.. traditionally late!

Hence.. late delivery! 

The creature not used to roads or traffic rules, let alone road rage, spent the next half hour, where it may have taken a few seconds at best thinking what ,, wait thinking., no no no no no nnnnoooo.. no one can know that it was thinking.. thinking was bad for business,, it quite literally meant that they had to spent some grey cells,, they had,, had, those big blinks thingies.. whatever they called..

A couple of centuries ago, or may be older than that..  all the thinking series was given away.. the plan or so the outsourced agency said was for a month to digitize everything for the creatures business of late delivery within the next year.. they had true to form and name.. made it happen in the next century.. so  the last remnants of the thinking modules in their ,, their,, thinking area was still left... maybe.

The creature, and all of its clan, were genetically blessed with excellent memory, remembering things even when they need not think about it.. relatively good health,  all body parts. All parts were modules made up to survive for their really extensively long long life.. what they did with it was just  to forget, maybe deliver or hand it over to the next generation to deliver. They seemed neither human nor alien, for they forever remained in the mist and the mist in the air, never cleared!

They were late deliverers not never deliverers.. they took the only things seriously was the deadline of 20 generations quite seriously.. a deadline had to me met upon an early cash in or at the end of the last month of the 20th generation since the time of booking.. 

The shadow loomed on the road for a little while longer! The motorists wondering where the mist was originating from and the creature trying not to think about whatever it was that they had not think about.. . Yes the street was lit by the whale oil lit lamps, yet the light was clear and bright at all times! Sometimes too bright.. which made the motorists wonder, then again, it was just a road,, who cared...??

Slow and steady .. measured steps moved the creature back to the end of the footpath.. one measured step to climb over though came quite late.. it was evening, or so the bikers shouted with the lamp lighting slowly becoming more relevant than ever before .. 

The steps led where they lead.. the mist went ahead and the creature followed.. a cool, calming and of course late as predictable... the road led to a wide circular pond, surrounded by houses lined up with trees and gardens,, both curated and non curated.. the creature took in the scene and then looked into what seemed like its arm..

A general human would have had a wristwatch or a smart watch,, the creatures had mists billowing out of their arms , and communications were silhouette based visuals.. thoughts were generated in the mind impulses and the mist took forms to show, direct or just plain entertain.. 

The pond was clean, for a change, had clear water ,, life silent and struggling had its way underneath the pond in terms of flora and fauna..  the mist formed shape after shape for the creature to understand and classify information.. this was a job hazard so the delivery was completed.. they were late yes, but did a thorough job of executing the delivery with all the instructions to the T. 

The creature started to move to wards the base of the pond.. being circular it had a common entrance and exit around it for the people who decided to walk around it.. as the walk was slow and steady.. more slow than steady.. the. It’s kept showcasing more information , information of the delivery to be made, where to find the package, who to take it too, about the tank bund around the pond, about the people lives and all the other fascinating niceties of the people living around the pond.. it need not be sequential, for the creature did not have information processes sequentially. It just was and so was the information!


The wind blew with a gusto,, night was coming on and everyone were retiring for the day. The ones eating early dinner to the ones staying up late, the ones talking with their mouth and being silent in their mind,, the ones speaking doing otherwise, all, all felt a sense of calm laziness thanks to the mist and started retiring for the day! The creature seemed to have hunched and picked up something from one of the lowest bases of the tank bund, and proceeded to the oldest house in the vicinity.

The house oldest not by date or creation, but just by existence., not dilapidated or breaking, but strong.. the pathway was half curated, nature was nurturing its way all around and the inhabitants were trying to get to terms with it,, by trying to eliminate things.. in vain.

The mist changed colours now,, from a cream white to a creamy orange.. images were faster and there was a sense of urgency in the thought stream! 
The inhabitants opened the door, out of volition and were now , without fear or hatred, standing in front of .. a misty figure...

Unknown motors and wires whirred, words were being formed in tongues that could be understood .. things went out , moments came in.. the package was ready to be delivered, 20 generations after, yet ready as instructed..

Huuu,, huuuum,, huuummmaannnnn!!!


Yes, yes we are the CROSSROADS, who are you?


the creature did what was the instruction, delivered the package!.. the mist changed back from orange to red and then to its frothy white.. job done,, time to go and it turned slowly, steady and yet at a pace never done before.. the instructions were clear,, move faster,, get away before the questions follow or the guns..

Move move away and get away, and say only one word for any and all questions

The package was still wrapped in the orange mist and the questions poured in..

The mist now almost light and clearing up letting the creature making its escape complete, told the overbearing questions only one word.


H U M A N I T Y!

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